Dries Van Noten, one of the most colorful designers of the past four decades, announced Tuesday in a shock decision that he would retire as creative director of the house he founded, with a final show in June in Paris.
His departure comes six years after he sold majority control in his house to the Puig Group, the Barcelona-based beauty and fashion group, in June 2018.
“The next Men’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection will be the last in my current role at DVN. The women’s Spring/Summer 2025, collection will be made by my studio team with whom I have been working very closely during all these years. I have full confidence that they will do a great job,” Dries explained in a letter made available to FashionNetwork.com.
There had been rumors that Dries had been discussing retirement with the Puigs for several years. Van Noten will be 66 when he retires this summer.
“In due time, we will announce the designer who will continue the story of the DVN Men & Women. However, I will stay involved in the House that I treasure so much. I thank everybody at Puig – Marc Puig, Manuel Puig, Jose Manuel Albesa and Ana Trias – for continuing to believe in us, and for helping us to build an even stronger company,” Van Noten added.
The news will ignite a firestorm of speculation on who might succeed Dries. One immediate favorite is Haider Ackermann, whom the Puig have been able to observe at close quarters.
The Puig Group controls five fashion houses that stage catwalk shows: Carolina Herrera, Rabanne, Nina Ricci and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Ackermann was a guest couturier for Gaultier in January 2023, when he staged a well-received collection.
In the wake selling out, Van Noten acquired a splendid villa on the Amalfi coast, where he is known to desire to spend more time with his long-term partner Patrick Vangheluwe.
“And of course, thank you to Patrick, for helping to create all the collections, and for supporting me from the very beginning to build this House,” the designer pointedly noted.
Commented Puig Group CEO Marc Puig: “On behalf of everyone at Puig I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dries Van Noten for the inspiring partnership we have built since he joined our House of Love Brands in 2018… We’ve expanded the brand’s footprint in the US and Asia, refined its digital channels and continue to launch innovative store concepts such as Galerie Quai Malaquais in Paris and La Cienega in Los Angeles.”
One of the most brilliant designers of his era, Van Noten exploded onto the fashion firmament after qualifying from the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in his native Antwerp, with a group show in London in 1986 with The Antwerp Six collective.
The son of a menswear boutique owner and grandson of a tailor, Van Noten immediately won acclaim for his bold sense of color, radical choice of ethnic fabrics and his ability to incorporate them in modernist clothing.
“In the early ’80s, as a young guy from Antwerp, my dream was to have a voice in fashion. Through a journey that brought me to London, Paris and beyond, and with the help of countless supportive people, that dream came true. Now, I want to shift my focus to all the things I never had the time for. I’m sad, but at the same time happy, to let you know that I will step down at the end of June. I have been preparing for this moment for a while, and I feel it’s time to leave room for a new generation of talents to bring their vision to the brand,” added Van Noten, while also thanking suppliers, ateliers and embroiderers in India.
In the late 1980s, Van Noten began staging indie runway shows in off-beat locations – like Passage Brady, a gallery of Indian restaurants in the 9th arrondissement. Or in a legendary show, inside a giant former Pratt & Whitney factory, where one long table was set for the 300 guests, and models marched up and down on the white linen tablecloth after the repas.
By 2008, to general acclaim, Van Noten won the International Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, fashion’s nearest equivalent of the Oscars.
“I feel such gratitude to all those at DVN. During these years, 38 to be precise, you gave me the chance and the energy to produce four collections a year, to stage shows, to open stores, and make DVN the success it is today,” stressed the Belgian designer, known as a generous host who would throw cocktail parties post-show, and feed guests off traditional food-trucks brought down from Belgium. A proud son of Belgium, his annual Christmas gift was a large bar of chocolate from this home country.
Marc Puig was careful to emphasize that Dries would keep a connection to the maison. “We respect Dries’ wish to step aside, after an exceptional 38-year career in fashion. It is a distinct honour for Puig to now be entrusted with carrying his legacy into the future… The relationship we have with founders, even after their retirement, has long been a defining factor for Puig’s success, and we look forward to continuing our personal and professional friendship as Dries remains involved in the brand to work on certain projects,” the CEO stressed.
Van Noten was famous for keeping tight control over his brand and marque, eschewing ad campaigns, in part because they might exclude potential customers. And building a small but unique boutique chain, with famed destination flagships on Quai Malaquais on the Seine.
“We have added beauty and perfume lines, extended the accessories, added e-commerce and opened exciting and innovative stores. The brand is now blooming. Like in a garden, you decide what to plant; and at some point, it continues to flourish… Last but not least, my heartfelt appreciation to everybody who loves what we do. Seeing our clothes out in the world, knowing they have a place in your life, has fulfilled me beyond words. I am sure of this: the DVN future remains bright,” he concluded in his letter, addressed to Dear Friends.
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